Category: Geen categorie

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Sorel Etrog (1933-2014)

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For us in Europe this is a lesser known artist/sculptor. But it appears that Etrog had his exhibitions at the Marlborough gallery and Galerie d’Eendt in the mid Seventies.

In 2000, a Toronto newspaper dubbed artist Sorel Etrog the “Grand Old Man of Canadian Sculpture.” It was an apt description, after a career spanning five decades including the installation of outdoor sculptures across Toronto, Canada and beyond. Yet Etrog was much more – a painter, draughtsman, film maker and not least, a literary man. He was keen to collaborate with the great thinkers of his generation, including playwrights Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco, Toronto media guru Marshall McLuhan and composer John Cage.

Etrog was born into a Jewish family in Romania in 1933. After a childhood spent in flight from the Nazis and Soviets, he immigrated with his family to Israel in 1950 where he began to study art and exhibit. In 1958 he won a scholarship to the Brooklyn Museum of Art School and moved to New York City. There, he had a chance encounter with Toronto collector and AGO patron Sam Zacks, who invited him to Canada.

Etrog permanently settled in Toronto in 1963. Recognition came quickly with museum purchases, international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale (1966), and a commission to design the Canadian Film Award statue, now known as the Genie (1968). Etrog resided in our city until his death in early 2014.

www,ftn-books.com has the Marlborough publication available

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Gianni Dova (1925-1991)

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This i would call typical Sixties art. In almost every country i can find an artists who works the same and makes the same kind of art . Still, GIanni Dova was part of the illustrous galleria del Cavallino. Making him part of a stable of respected artists. (www.ftn-books.com has some nice publications by the gallery available.

Perhaps the future will bring anew the admiration and appreciation for this artist, but for now i can indicate better artists than Dova in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. Still art is very personal and if you are the admirer of Dova, please do not take any of my personal information too serious…it is just my personal point of view.

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Franco Canilla (1911-1985)

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Because of the purchase of a catalogue collection of the galleria del Cavallino i discovered over 2 dozens of Italian artists that i did not know of. One of the discoveries is the sculptor/goldsmith Franco Canilla. I learned …. agreat nam in the Sixties but nowadaus forgotten. Stil a great way to start to learn about these almost forgotten names in Italian art. The series of Galleria del Cavallino catalogues is now available at www.ftn-books.com

Italian sculptor and painter Franco Cannilla was also a talented jewelry maker. Although he was recognized internationally for his art, Cannilla’s jewels were a more intimate expression of his practice. These pieces were oftentimes produced in small or limited quantities and are regarded as true expressions of his art—small sculptures that were intended to be worn, or as Alexander Calder described, “living works of art.” Best known for his unique and ornate jewelry designs, often in gold, Cannilla first exhibited his jewelry in Milan in 1949. His career was prolific, and also featured many successful collaborations with other Italian designers.

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Quirijn van Tiel (1900-1967)

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Another “petit maitre” i had never heard of, but because of a catalogue find i noticed this artist. Not very well known, but his works are now emerging in the art market. Recent sales at art dealers and auction mean that this artist is getting more and more appreciated by a larger public.

I noticed this painter because of a publication from 1970 by the Boymans van Beuningen where a retrospective was held. Influenced by Campendonck and Flemish artists, but in the end a style of his own. A nice catalogue and now available at www.ftn-books.com

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Charlotte Mutsaers ( continued )

One of my earliest blogs (2016) was dedicated to Charlotte Mutsaers. I explained the importance of Mutsaers for dutch art in general. Mutsaers has started as a teacher in art and as as higy original painter. I Think her paintings from the early Eighties belong to the most important ones from that period. This conclusion is not lightly taken. Yesterday evening i leafed throught the catalogue which was published on the occasion of her exhibition at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in Den Haag and i was really impressed. Timeless, Poignant and colorful they impressed me once again. Some 25 yeasr ago, Mutsaers made a career swith and decided for a career in writing and since she has published some of the most important books in the dutch language. I like her books, but when i had to chose i always would chose one of her paintings instead of one of her books.

www.ftn-books.com  has several Mutsaers items / books available including the Den Haag poster from  2010

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Conroy Maddox (1912-2005)

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It was a few months ago that i sold a book on Conroy Maddox and the next day i started to look into his career. This was because galerie d”eendt published the book and i ahve always admired the program by d’Eendt.

Conroy Maddox  was an English surrealist painter, collagist, writer and lecturer; and a key figure in the Birmingham Surrealist movement.

He was born in Ledbury, Herefordshire, and discovered surrealism in 1935, spending the rest of his life exploring its potential through his paintings, collages, photographs, objects and texts. Inspired by artists such as Max Ernst, Oscar Domínguez and Salvador Dalí, he rejected academic painting in favour of techniques that expressed the surrealistic spirit of rebellion. Maddox officially joined the British Surrealist Group in 1938.

His creations soon began not only to challenge the conventional view of reality, but also to push pictorial expression to the limits of consciousness. He was even implicated in both scandal and controversy when, during World War II, Scotland Yard suspected him of fifth columnist sabotage and mounted a surprise raid to seize works thought to contain coded messages to the enemy.

Following the war he moved to Balsall Heath and began his most active period. In 1948, he married Nan Burton. They had a daughter and a son together, but had the marriage dissolved in 1955. He died in London, aged 92.

The one copy of the d’Eendt catalogue that remains is now available at www.ftn-books.com

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A very special catalogue on Figuration Libre

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The year 1982, the exhibition …l’Air du Temps….location Galerie d’Art Contemporain Nice….the artists… Alberola, Blanchard, Blais, Boisrond, Castellas, Combas, Denis, di-Rosa, En avant comme avant, Favier, Gainon, Giard, Laget, Lanneau and Rousse.

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All artists were member of the FIGURATION LIBRE group and have gained world fame in the decades after this exhibition. What makes this catalogue special is that it is the only copy currently available on the market and from an art historical point of view. It presents these artists for the first time together in one of the major museums for modern art. Beside that a text is written by Ben Vautier ( Fluxus) who was and is an admirer of the Figuration Libre. This i the only copy i have available and it is very special , since the condition is excellent and it is dedicated to Riekje Swart who was the first to present these Figuration Libre artists in the Netherlands.

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Geertjan van Oostende (1941)

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van Oostende his works are relayted to the ones Anton Heyboer made during the Seventies. Many dry point etchings and filled with a symbolic/abstract language. van Oostende was at one time a pupil of heyboer and they always stayed in close contact. The admiration for Heyboer shows in his works.

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Not many books are published on van Oostende and hardly any museum presentations make this artist not very well known. Still leaf through the book ( available at www.ftn-books.com ) and you see real quality art work by an artist who derves to be known much more. Abstract etchings, painting and special publications make this an artist well worh colelcting.

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Dario Villalba (1939-2018)

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This is the kind of art i admire. It sets you “off balance” . I have the saem experience with the works by Ossip who i consider one of the best and most oroginal artists in the Netehrlands. Villalba is spanish and walks the same path.

because Graduated in Fine Arts and member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. In 1958 he moved to Paris and painted for a few months in André Lhote’s studio. In 1962 he obtained a scholarship to study at Harvard University.

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Since the mid-sixties, he dealt with the problems of the latest artistic movements from a personal and original perspective, using photography as a means of painting. In 1970 he obtained the first major recognition of his work, after the presentation at the XXXV Venice Biennale of the so called pink encapsulated. In 1973 he received the International Painting Prize at the XII Biennial of São Paulo.

In the same decade he exhibited in major European museums: Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Heidelberg Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Stadt Museum Bochum, Bochum, Germany, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Sonja Henie-Niels Onstand Foundation, Hovikooden, Norway.

In 1983 he received the National Painting Prize in Spain. During this period he participated in solo and group exhibitions in the USA: at Charles Cowles Gallery in 1982, at the Guggenheim in 1980, New Images from Spain, in 1983, Acquisition Priorities: Aspects of Postwar Painting in America. Recent European Painting and at the MOMA in 1984, An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. In 1987 he took part in the exhibition Cinq siècles d’Art Espagnol: l’imagination nouvelle. Les années 70-80 at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.

In 1994 the Valencian Institute of Modern Art organised an anthological exhibition of his work, which was later presented at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Oslo.

On 17 November 2002 he became a member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. In 2003 he received the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts in Granada.

www.ftn-books.com has 2 Villalba publications available.

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Anton Heyboer (continued)

 

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A few years before the pandemic (2017-2018) the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag organized an exhibitionon Anton Heyboer. Since the Sixties there was a strong connection between the museum and Heyboer , because Hans Locher , the curator at that time, was a stron fan of the early Heyboer and his choice has proven to be impeccable. Beautiful early etchings and drawings are now part of the collection of the museum and the exhibition showed that Heyboer has been developing his art through the decades. Perhaps less appealing than his eraly years, but the works from the end of his career impressed me very much. The catalogue published with this exhibition is without a doubt the best book on Heyboer since 40 years and now availabel at www.ftn-books.com. Heyboer’s position in dutch art is now very well established and this exhibition and catalogue show why.